William "Wild Bill" Albrecht wrote in and let me know about a recent debate of his with TurretinFan from Alpha and Omega Ministries (the patristically dishonest "ministry" of the Right Reverend Reformed Baptist Bishop James "Dr." White). Rock and roll! I love debates and I love the Blessed Virgin (Hi Mom!) -- how could this get better?!? Wild Bill writes:

This is the first in a number of debates we have planned. We will be debating the MARIAN DOGMAS very soon, you can announce that also if you'd like. Those will be much longer. Each DOGMA will be roughly about 2 and a half hours long and we will start debating that in July,

While we're on a Dominican theme (with today's photo caption call), I figured this would also be of interest to readers: "Fr. Augustine DiNoia, OP, interviewed on both the nature of his position in the Curia and the role of the Dominican House of Studies at this stage of the Order’s history."

Speaking of the recent spate of books on atheism, David Bentley Hart, author of Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies, says, "We used to produce better atheists, atheists who had a better arsenal of arguments to make...but perhaps...it's sort of the slap-dash way in which they approach the topic that has made them so marketable.

We the students of the University of Notre Dame have called for a Rosary Crusade in response to the recent announcement of the honoring of President Obama on our campus. During the Rosary Crusade, which began on Wednesday of Holy Week and will last until Sunday May 17th (the day of President Obama's commencement address at ND), we will be praying the Rosary each day for the following three intentions:

1) The conversion of heart of President Obama regarding the sanctity of life.

2) For the Catholic character of the University of Notre Dame.

3) For a greater respect for the dignity of human life from conception until natural death around the world.

We truly believe we can have 1,000,000 Rosaries prayed by May 17th, but we need people to know about our campaign in order for that to happen. We at Notre Dame realize that the scandal given by the honoring of President Obama extends much further than the Notre Dame campus and we recognize that we, the students, have been given the great opportunity to be leaders (at least for this small portion of time) in the Catholic Pro-life movement around the world. Please encourage your readers to join with us in praying the Rosary for these intentions and logging the number of Rosaries they have prayed on our website at http://ndresponse.com/counter/ . Facebook users are encouraged to join our event. If any good is going to come from this situation, that good will be motivated and brought about by prayer, especially the prayer of the Rosary.

No mission or cause is too great for God, least of all the cause of those who are the weakest amongst us. We trust Our Lady will watch over us and recommend our prayers to Her Beloved Son.

As many will recall, the SSPX bishops have had their excommunication lifted, but the SSPX is still not in full communion with the Holy See. Nonetheless, these are thoroughly Catholic hymns and chants. Enjoy!

Starting tomorrow, we are teaming up with My Catholic Voice (www.mycatholicvoice.com) to offer a free music download each Wednesday through June 10. The direct link to the item will be www.mycatholicvoice.com/aogentes

You have to be a registered user to download the item - there's no cost to join/register. Below is our PR.

The first free download will be ‘Alleluia Omnes Gentes’ by the Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos in their inimitable style of freedom and expressive power of love and faith.

In this lecture, Professor Hadley Arkes explained how the most serious challenge in principle to the traditional laws governing marriage in fact reveals the deeper flaws in the argument for same-sex marriage.

Hadley Arkes (full bio here) is an EPPC Senior Fellow, and the Edward Ney Professor American Institutions at Amherst College. His most recent book is Natural Rights and the Right to Choose (Cambridge University Press, 2002).

Mary, the Bread of Life, and the Mystery of Holy Saturday

Yes, yes, a little early...but here's some Easter music from the Vatican. I felt bad having posted mainly videos today, so here are some MP3s. The link to the left takes you to the lyrics, the link on the right to the MP3 file:

So yeah, I really love this priest. He baptized my firstborn son, renewed my faith in the orthodoxy of young priests and instilled in me a great love for the Exultet (about which you already know if you come here often). His name is Dan Scheidt, and I'm firmly convinced he's a modern day saint -- may God keep and preserve him.

This past Holy Week, he returned to my parish (where he was formerly associate pastor and has since left to shepherd a flock of his own) and delivered a wonderful meditation on the Exultet. Please do give it a listen through GodTube:

We offer these talks for free as part of our ongoing mission to help all men grow in faith and fellowship. If you'd like to help support us in our mission, first, please keep us in your prayers! Financial donations can be made using our printable support form.

Like what you hear? Order the 2009 Conference speakers' talks on a set of high-quality audio CDs with our convenient CD order form! CD sets are just $15 including shipping and handling.

Back in 2004, an economics doctoral student at MIT named Adam Kolasinski wrote a column called The Secular Case Against Gay Marriage. You should check it out before it's labeled hate speech.

To date, it's the most concise summary of the non-religious-based arguments I've read regarding why all this same sex "marriage" nonsense deserves to be shouted out of the public square. Do yourself a favor and give it a read -- that way, the next time that guy at work says, "Everone should just be allowed to do whatever they want," you'll have a good answer to provide that he'll accept, even if he's an atheist.

If someone could point me to a good audio file which gives these same points (more or less) it would be greatly appreciated.

A debate between well known Christian Apologists Dinesh D'souza and atheist Peter singer on a wide range of topics touching on God's existence problem of evil and suffering etc.

I must say i was very disappointed by dinesh's performance on this debate.Peter singer's arguments were nothing new.The classical arguments against God's existence.mainly focusing on the problem of evil.Dinesh seemed not to have a proper grasp on the counter arguments of the problem of evil,and he did miserably in defending his position on the matter.

Dinesh did not even use the free will defense by alvin plantinga to properly argue against the problem of evil.Even at one time saying that he did not know why there is evil and suffering.

Peter singer in my own view,was ok.In fact he's a very "mild" atheist. But dinesh did not capitalize on the opportunity.Instead he opened his speech on a totally unrelated topic about the problems of atheism,the injustices of former atheists,and the dangers of eliminating religion from society.I agree with some of his points,but that was not the topic of discussion.The topic was on God's existence and he should have started off with arguments in support of this position first.

When the question time from the audience reached,D'souza answered well,but at times strayed off the topic of the questions asked.He sometimes had very long answers to the questions.

Peter singer,well,there is really nothing much i can say about him,he wasn't exceptional,he was not the crowd's favorite.Compared to very loud Christopher Hitchens,the vial spitting Richard dawkins and other prominent atheists,Peter singer was rather dull.

In conclusion,Peter Singer was more on point than Dinesh.Peter failed to account for the source of moraliy in an atheistic worldview.Dinesh failed to substatially mount good arguments for God's existence.

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"Faith then cometh by hearing; and hearing by the word of Christ."
Rom 10:17(DRV)